“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Jeremiah 31:3
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?..
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-35,37-39
The love of God for His own is beyond measure, in heft and breadth, in depth and grip. It surpasses human imagining and description that we can be so closely, unceasingly, strongly, inextricably held, and yet we are. Truly, our God is ever-present and for us, and that means He is with us, all around us, hemming us in behind and before, upholding us with His everlasting arms, gripping us with His hands, and covering us under His wings. His love takes on everything that would separate us from Him, and wins. We cannot escape His love, and once we grasp what that means, never want to. (Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 91:4; 103:11; 139:5-6; John 10:28-29)
“O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee.
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.” ~George Matheson (1882)
What does this love mean for us day to day? It means that when we awaken to a new morning and face fresh challenges, He loves us in them. His love gives purpose to our rising, our communion with Him, our planning, our deciding. He wants what is best and cheers us on. His love infuses the divine into our relationships and conversations, and meaning into our industry and ministry.
What does this love mean for us hour to hour? It means we will never escape His eye or care. As we move from task to task, and vitality spurts and wanes, His love is steady and steadfast, giving insight, strength, stamina, and sweetness in every happenstance and the bitterest of responsibilities. His love orders and blesses our interactions, and inspires what we see and seek. His love soothes our loneliness, and is the balm to grief and pain. His love sings over our consternation and our weeping. (Zephaniah 3:15-17)
Since these things are true, how will we live differently, more securely, in greater solace and passion and courage?
Father, let me this day rest in, rejoice in, marvel in, and vibrantly live in Your love that knows no bounds. May I never let go of You as I extend Your love to others.
As the rain and snow 